Storm Coming
“If you look for perfection, you'll never be content", said a wise man once. Perhaps perfection is truly an illusion. Nothing is ever so perfect. Same could be said for the world. We thought we could achieve it but we didn't. We beat them down, pushed them against a wall, tortured them to such a degree no one else would dare to but yet like rabid dogs they keep arising from the shadows. "A storm's coming!" (background sound: thunder storm) *Year 2050* New York, Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan. Thought we had it under control but we made things worse than ever! Now they rise from their graves taking everything from us. According to the Government's anti-criminal act, we have tortured, killed and banished every criminal off the streets. We beat them to the point where their backs were against the wall perchance that's what made them so death-defying. Every Cop is the city is now being hunted and gunned down by them. These are no criminals, they are assassins, ruthless cold harsh killers with extraordinary gifts! Observing and monitoring the movements of these independent and new gangs, a new league of heroes has been formed. They are called the L.E.G.I.O.N. Now our future lies in their hands. Like every story this story too has its hero. A boy born in darkness, melded by it, to serve light! It had been already 16 months since he appeared out of nowhere to help the people of this city, the only hope of this city. "Nightshade"! Who'd have known a 17 year old boy like Kyle Cain could be an ass kicking vigilante. Jumping roof tops might not be the safest next thing to a desk job but at least this keeps us safe. "There has been a robbery on the next block" said the policeman to his partner. "Damn first a jewelry store and now this?" replied his partner with a worried look on his face. As the police vehicle chases through street to get in time on reach they witness the criminals tied and one of them cuffed to their own vehicle. "Damn that kid again?" said the first policeman in disgrace as Nightshade watched them from the top of the building. Seven armed and four unarmed thugs and to make it better 5 more armed robbers. That was the big catch that very night. Nightshade supposedly was doing a great job until he was informed of an expert criminal with another gift as mentioned above, her name was Kara Summers a.k.a Death Bringer. Now these gifts we talk about are a result of effect of radiation that spread throughout the world during nuclear war or also known as the World War III in the year 2023. The world is still rebuilding itself. These strong effects of radiation combined with natural evolution give birth to these extraordinary powers that are achieved via a drive. A "drive" is like a flux all of these mysterious yet evolved creature must experience this drive to awaken their powers. Some die while awakening it for the first time, the surge of power could be overwhelming and destructive. Back to the story now, a well known a criminal turned assassin, was jumping on the roof tops of New York City. For she was not hunting that night, she was running away. She knew that it was extremely bothersome to fail a mission. Tonight, she failed to kill her old time arch-nemesis, that is, Lauren Young, also known as Black Bird. She was chased by half of the city cops. "Not good, I knew today wasn't my lucky day!" exclaimed Kara as she vaulted a wall, displaying her acrobatic prowess. Using her free running skills she quickly evaded every obstacle in her way and with her being extremely nimble on foot and escape artistry training she managed to befool the police but that was not end to her botheration. Actually, the police were one of the things she was least worried about. It could be said with her demeanor and expressions that she was not overtly fond of what was following her. "For old times sake, leave me alone, you bitch!" shouted Kara as she pulled one of her guns from her holster and with her masterful aiming skills, took a shot. Apparently, injuring a figure in shadows, imposingly a girl. Scaling tall buildings and after working out (sarcasm) for a while, she reached her safe house. Treating her wounds, and regaining her lost strength. She prayed for a miracle to occur, she was tired of being tailed off. She wanted to do something more than just chase people around, kill for money and steal. She knew, she was made for something more. Something, truly evil. She held her father's sword and said, "Father, I swear to you, I will make you proud. I will fulfill your ambitions! I will kill and slay every creep who wears a suit and calls themselves a hero! Then, I shall rule this planet!" The night was dark and cloudy, yet the moon just managed to sneak out, casting its pale lights which pierced through the fleecy clouds and reached the city. Sometimes, God don't answer or heed the prayers of evil. A little did Kara knew, she was being tailed off by Kyle. Nightshade broke into her apartment without even her noticing, using his stealth skills he rendered most of her fire arms useless. Still she hadn't noticed the man who had blended into the shadows. Suddenly Kara felt a cold sharp chill running down her spine as she turned around a cold, dark and imposing figure appeared and smashed her head against the mirror, she was bleeding, she did what she could quickly grabbing her shot-gun and firing at the strange figure. By the time she had those shots fired the character had almost fled the scene but she couldn't let it go just like that, she chose to follow the shadowy character. Switching to her own shadow form (a prowess granted by her gift) she raced the creature to the roof as she appeared there, there was nothing but darkness. Kara noticed a figuring running in circles around her, she took a steady aim and shot the thing however, it seemed that she missed because of the speed of the creature. Suddenly a dart appeared out of the blue and stuck into her chest, she managed to get it out. However, it was not too soon before she was knocked unconscious by what he typically describes as the "Wrist-darts". Kyle as Nightshade revealed himself to be the shadowy creature. "A little stealth, darkness and mystery and voila you are the master of intimidation, well it wasn't so hard now...was it?" he thought to himself. As Kyle walked towards Kara's unconscious body suddenly he heard a gun shot and then the very next moment he was off his feet. For he was shot with a very powerful rifle but luckily for Kyle, his body armor had saved his life. Strikedown, a super mercenary had shot him and now was approaching towards him with his deadly sword. Kyle went back on his feet, looking at the mercenary he hurled a shuriken at him, the mercenary took out his pistol and with his perfect aim destroyed the shuriken. "Who are you and why do you want to hurt me?" questioned Kyle. "Who am I? I'm your DEATH" replied the mercenary in a cold but blunt tone. *flashback* Three hours ago: Raymond, Haley Raymond the famous gangster had problems running his business because of the over activeness of the Nightshade (or at least how he describes it), he called in Strikedown. The lone wolf, complete mercenary with his own set of abilities. "Fifty million dollars, you hear it? I will give you fifty-mill if you take out that son of a bitch by tonight! Remember you have only 12 hours" said the gangster. Strikedown shook hands with the gangster and wished himself luck. He bribed some of the local gangsters to create a chaos. That was the big plan as he planned Nightshade took them down and then there were 7 armed and 4 unarmed thugs and to make it better 5 more armed robbers. Nightshade was tired from all day's activities and he just had a small skirmish with Kara. Strikedown knew this was the perfect opportunity to strike. Strikedown jumped and ran towards Kyle as Kyle on the other hand performed a quadruple back flip generating distance between him and Strikedown. Strikedown pulled his sword and attempted to slash Kyle but luckily for Nightshade he was fast enough to dodge the incoming attack. "You've got skills kid, I'd give you that but this ain't no dance!" shouted Strikedown as he reached for his other sword. Then taking a foreign stance he began the barrage of his assault on Kyle. Kyle went toes to toes with strikedown, dodging every move with equal or greater speed. "Why are you fighting me?" questioned Kyle as he caught one of Strikedown's swords. While still recovering from the shock of Kyle catching his sword, Strike down replied, "I am fighting you because I must! I am a mercenary and this is my job!" Kyle quickly turned and aiming for his shin attacked Strikedown causing him to loosen his grip. Without wasting time Kyle immediately kicked him thereby disarming him. However, this didn't resolve his problem. Aside from the chilly weather (−52 °F) and fatigue, Kyle had bigger things to worry about. His opponent suddenly formed a compound bow and arrow out of nothingness, almost like a magic trick. Except it was no trick. Kyle prepared himself for the heated battle. Strikedown fired his first arrow which Kyle dodged by performing a simple side flip. Using his combined agility and acrobatic prowess of the most accomplished circus aerialists and acrobats, he dodged each of the arrows, the second bullet was easy to dodge all it needed was a back side flip, the third missed him by a few inches as he quickly maneuvered, the fourth and fifth rushed with tremendous speed, he had no choice but to use his vaulting skills to avoid them easily. In order to dodge the sixth arrow he performed a mid-air cartwheel, while to avoid the sixth all he did was split (a position commonly taught in gymnastics, yoga, dancing or Taekwondo) displaying his flawless acrobatic and gymnastic prowess. While the seventh arrow required him to somersault his way out of the trajectory of the arrow. The last arrow was particularly easy to avoid, all he did was bend about an inch back. He dodged each and every single bullet and then walked near Strikedown with a small smirk on his face. "You said something about being advanced, your bullets couldn't even touch me!" he said as he walked towards him. Strikedown in shame fired another lousy arrow but instead of dodging Kyle brought him more disgrace by catching this arrow and throwing it back at his feet. Strikedown used his extraordinary strength to punch Kyle away causing him to move a few feet back. As Strikedown quickly moved reaching for his flash bangs and nearly depriving Nightshade of his sight, Nightshade managed to pull out his infrared lenses allowing him to see with clear visibility hence allowing him to track his opponents move. Strikedown went nuts, making flight impossible he summoned a machine gun. On witnessing the machine gun, Kyle ran towards a wall, vaulted it and hid himself behind it. Strikedown fired randomly hoping it would hit Kyle but it didn't. Kyle used his grapnel device to get out of the building. It was pure luck that he landed on the top of the NYPD building, he knew what he had to do. "Wilson, I want you to find about a certain individual called Strikedown, look everywhere check NYPD database...quick!" said Kyle as he contacted someone with an unknown device. As he finished talking to his associate he was suddenly kicked away by Strikedown. The kick was evidently powerful enough to cause him to crash against a concrete wall and leave a giant crack on it. "This guy...." Kyle thought to himself as he stood up. Strikedown dropped his weapons and switched to hand to hand combat, "Can you fight like a man?" he mocked Kyle. "Can't you?" answered Kyle. Kazzingston switched to his idiosyncratic mixture which blends Boxing, Yoshukai Karate, Dragon Style Kung Fu, Monkey Kung Fu, Zui Quan, Jujutsu and Tang Soo Do while Kyle switched to his fighting style which blends Hapkido, Judo, Tàijíquán, Bōjutsu, Snake Style Kung Fu, Muay Thai and Capoeira. Capoeira and Muay Thai definitely gave him the edge. The combatants exchanged blow to blow. The fight was ending in a near stalemate after 15 minutes till Kyle decided to surprise Strikedown by using a Hook kick ultimately injuring Strikedown. Strikedown prepared himself for a full retaliation using a brick and smashing it over Kyle's face subsequently damaging his mask greatly and disrupting the lenses. The blow was strong enough to temporarily leave Kyle blinded because of the damaged lenses. Strikedown used the situation to his advantage by throwing two knives at Nightshade, now deprived of his most important sense Kyle was unable to dodge the barrage and fell a victim to the attack but thanks to his armored suit he didn't receive any serious injury just minor shocks strong enough to cause him to lose his balance. Victory was short-lived as Kyle's system recovered and within a few seconds his armored suit and lenses were online thereby allowing him to use his special hand made smoke bombs. However, as Strikedown supposedly lost his fight, he got angry and tasered Kyle. As Strikedown summoned his lava sword to kill Kyle, Kyle's communication device suddenly ringed and Kyle smiled looking at it. As Strikedown began to march towards Kyle, Kyle threw a device at him and said, "If I were you, I'd check that!" To be continued....